Senators deride Medicaid cuts

Medicaid cuts outlined in the federal budget blueprint will jeopardize long-term care and other services for more than 50 million Americans. That's the message in a letter that a group of 44 senators sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Michael O. Leavitt. In all, 17 Republicans and 27 Democrats signed on.

Leavitt's department plans to implement a White House plan to cut Medicaid spending. One of the ways it will do so is by reducing the allowable provider tax rate from 6% to 3%. Decreasing the nursing home tax would reduce funding nationwide for long-term care by $1.6 billion and could force some rural nursing homes to close, they said.

"We do not believe it is appropriate for the Department ... to make these changes," the letter warns.

Fecal transplants should be considered for patients with recurrent cases of Clostridium difficile whose symptoms cannot be addressed by antibiotics, the Infectious Diseases Society of America said in new guidelines published Thursday.

Lawmakers took a long-standing industry complaint to the Department of Health and Human Services this week, telling Secretary Alex Azar that Medicare and Medicaid favor opioid prescription over non-addictive alternatives for treating chronic pain.